William Bradford (1823–1892)

William Bradford was greatly admired for his chilly marine paintings of New England, the Labrador Coast, and the Arctic. Born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, Bradford was to the artic north what Albert Bierstadt and Thomas Moran were to the American West: a pioneering adventurer painting invaluable portraits of terra incognita. Bradford’s extensive exploratory and artistic efforts earned him an avid market in America and England, and he exhibited at the Boston Art Club, the Brooklyn Art Association, the National Academy of Design, and the Royal Academy, London. His work is now held in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the Wadsworth Athenaeum Museum of Art, among other prominent institutions.